Driven to distraction

Tuesday

Dec 20, 2011 at 11:07 AMDec 20, 2011 at 11:14 AM

The Orange County Register

The Nanny State is wagging its finger at us again. This time it's the National Transportation Safety Board, which wants to ban all use of cellphones by drivers — even the "hands-free" kind that are increasingly popular — supposedly to cut down on traffic accidents.

In California, using a phone with your hands while driving already is illegal, as is texting. When the handheld phone ban was passed in 2006, we were advised that the safest thing to do would be to use a hands-free device. This year, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 28, by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, which increased fines for a first offense to $50 from $20. Sensibly, it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. He wrote in his veto message, "For people of ordinary means, current fines and penalty assessments should be sufficient deterrent."

The National Transportation Safety Board has called for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving. The recommendation, if adopted by states, would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road.

Now, according to the NTSB, even using a hands-free device isn't good enough. "This is a ridiculous Nanny State thing," Marc Scribner told us; he's a transportation policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a freemarket think tank. He said the device used isn't the problem, but the element of distraction to the driver.

He said a total ban on drivers using phones would be difficult to enforce. How could a police officer tell if the person was talking with a hands-free device, singing to a tune on the radio or conversing with a passenger?

Mr. Scribner pointed to a September 2010 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Distracted Driving and Driver, Roadway and Environmental Factors." It found that conversing on a phone was the cause of about 3.4 percent of vehicle crashes, the secondmost common cause. But the most-frequent cause of accidents was "conversing with a passenger," at 15.9 percent.

Although the safety board's nonbinding recommendation can be rejected by the states, Nanny can creep up on us. If we're not careful, a federal mandate might hitch federal highway funds to total bans on phone use. Meanwhile, California should not act on this recommendation. Although the safety board's nonbinding recommendation can be rejected by the states, Nanny can creep up on us. If we're not careful, a federal mandate might hitch federal highway funds to total bans on phone use. Meanwhile, California should not act on this recommendation. This time, let's leave Nanny at home.